Swift School celebrates Halloween with 'Trunk or Treat'

NEW BEDFORD — The Jireh Swift School isn't normally a scary place, but on one night in October for the past nine years, spooky things have happened.

NATALIE SHERMAN

NEW BEDFORD — The Jireh Swift School isn't normally a scary place, but on one night in October for the past nine years, spooky things have happened.

As nerds, ninja turtles and ghouls swarm the swingset on the back lot, cars pull in, skeletons, makeshift cemeteries — not to mention pots of candy — spilling from their trunks.

"When you see all these decorations, you get scared because you don't know what it is," third-grader Caitlin Souza, 8, said Friday.

"It's fun because you get to go trick or treat and you get to decorate the car," said Michael Correia, 7, a headless mad scientist otherwise known as a second-grader.

Swift's "Trunk or Treat" tradition started in 2005 so that students could wear their Halloween costumes at school without disrupting the academic day, Principal Anthony DiFonso said. Last year, 230 children paid the $1 entrance fee — about the same number of students as the school population, said Tammy Souza, the treasurer of the Parent Teachers Organization, which hosts the event. Souza said she was hoping for similar turnout this year.

PTO President Katie Knowles said the event provides a "fun, non-confrontational" time for the school to come together. The organization also hosts English and math bingo nights, as well as a holiday craft event, she said.

"We're trying to build a better sense of community and also increase communication between the home and the school and we've been doing that with these types of social events," said Knowles, whose daughter is in kindergarten and whose son previously attended the school.

"We're consistent with it and we get the message out. ... And when the kids go home and they're excited, that gets the parents excited," she said.

DiFonso, who is in his first year at the school and donned a scary principal "costume" for the evening, said he has benefited from a "passionate and involved" PTO.

"The parent-school-community relationship is so reciprocal, that the stronger it is, the better everyone is served," he said. "Events like this really help to foster the culture at Swift."

The Swift PTO raises and spends about $6,000 each year to pay for items like summer reading books, walkie talkies, as well as transport for the school-wide end-of-year field trip to the Roger Williams Zoo, Knowles said. The "Trunk or Treat" night is supported in part by a United Way mini-grant.

Caitlin Souza, a "good witch" dressed in tiara and gown, explained why she looks forward to the event.

"When you're at school, you're just learning, but when you're here you get candy," she said.